Beat's harmony
by Tako no Taiko
Summary: A Chinese emperor was mysteriously murdered and a Shogun's daughter has been kidnapped! And what does a Dutch merchant and his prisoner have to do with all this? This story takes place mostly in ancient Japan and somewhat in the ports of England.
1. Prologue

Beat of the Drum and Melody of the Flute 

By TNT

Prologue

Their way

Centuries before modern times there was a secret race or hidden society. Little is even known about them today, but enough is known for a story to forge, to let our imaginations go into this dark world, this dishonorable past. A past of devious tactics, killing for money and use of trickery of the mind.

Honor meant almost nothing to these people, or so the people say. This hidden society hid under disguises not showing their true occupation. Some hid as _hokashi_, others hid as _sarugaku_, _akindo_, _shukke_, or hid as _yamabushi_. These disguises allowed them to conceal their weapons and other treacherous devices.

No one knows when this secret race began, when they first formed an identity for themselves. The earliest known people of these hidden societies came around the early sixteenth century. Some say they started back in ancient China, to the writing of Sun Tzu, the _art of war_.

These worriers, trained since two to three, could deliver a fatal blow effortlessly. Soundlessly climbing the walls to an enemy castle to a where their target lay asleep. Mostly their targets were _shoguns, _but there were rare occasions where they went aftersomeone that weren't _shoguns. _

There were a few people who learned their secret art without their prier knowledge so they went and eliminated the potential threat. Or they went after people who knew their true identities. All these people were quickly and quietly dealt with.

This was their way… The way of the ninja.

"Mommy, where are we going to?" asked a young boy, about the age of three and a half. He had big fearful Prussian blue eyes and unruly dark brown hair.

"Hush now darling, just stay quiet." The mother quickly glanced around her. She didn't see anything past the dense night besides fog and trees on the sacluded mountain. The woman as well had dark brown hair that reached two inches below her shoulders. Her eye colors were slightly lighter than her young son's eyes.

Moving swiftly again down the mountain, holding her son tight to her breast, she tripped on a small rock sticking up out of the ground. Her arms flung out in front of herself causing her young son to fling out of her protective arms and rolling down the mountain.

"Heero!" she cried. About to get up and run after the boy she felt the cold feel of a steel blade press against her neck. The last thing she heard was her son's please for help before the steel blade slit her throat.

"Tell us what you know," growled the man in a black suit at the Chinese emperor.

"I will not betray my people. I will not become a dishonorable traitor as you are to your own country." With that answer his throat was slit, and he died tied, to his own chair, an honorable death defending his country.

"Let us go, he could not have told us much any way." The leader said to his small group. They nodded and quickly exited the palace right before the guards came crashing through the door.

_Hokashi- _musician

_Sarugaku_- actor or entertainer

_Akino_- merchant

_Shukke_- Buddhist monk

_Yamabushi_- mountain worrier-priest

_Shogun_- war lord

Hoped you liked it. - More is yet to come. Please review. Thanks

TNT


	2. Chapter 1

Beat of the Drum and Melody of the Flute 

By TNT

**Chapter one**

_Discovery_

"Princess, please come out of that closet this minuet! Your flute teacher is here," the exasperated servant called out. The princess groaned loudly as she crawled out of the closet in which she had been hiding. She had to find a new hiding place soon or else she would have to see that sorry excuse for a teacher every day! In her opinion, she had far superior flute playing skills than that so-called teacher could ever hope to have.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," the princess growled.

"Good, now please fallow me."

"I know where the music room is!"

"Ah, but we are not going to the music room."

"What?"

"We are going to the main chamber. Your father and your flute teacher wish to speak to you there."

"Do you know why?" Now the servant had genuinely caught her interest.

"No, Princess, I don't know why. All I know is that your father is in a very good mood."

"Her skills are incredible. I can't believe how far she has come in just one year."

"Yes, though, I have been to told she is a quick study." The shogun sat there talking to Princess Relena's flute teacher, with an impassive expression on his bearded face.

Just as the flute teacher was about to make a comment, there was a knock on the large wooden door and the female servant that was sent to fetch Relena walked in. Giving the shogun a very deep bow she stated,

"Your majesty, Princess Relena is here." The Shogun nodded and replied

"Good, send her in." Giving another deep bow she stepped out of the large very decorated room and Princess Relena shyly walked in, calmer than usual out of respect for her father and not wanting to dishonor him in front of his guest.

She quietly got down on her knees and prostrated her self before her well-respected father. In truth, her father frightened her. Everything she did never seemed to please him. Maybe if she was a calmer, less curious, more submissive girl she might be able to please him, or maybe it was her mother's death that displeased him. Her mother died of too much blood loss shortly after Relena was born, so she theorized that he must blame her for the death of his beloved wife. But Relena didn't see how that could be seeing as how her father married that witch only one year later.

Was her stepmother really a witch? Probably not, but she hated Relena, she was sure of that. She was stubborn and impatient, always trying to mold Relena into her vision of a perfect samurai's daughter, submissive and humble towards all men. Ha! What did she know? All ready set in her ways, Relena would not let this women touch her much less mold her.

"You may sit up Relena." She complied with his command. Again not wanting to be disrespectful, she looked down into her lap. Her heart was beating as fast as a mouse's heartbeat, but she managed to hide it from the on lookers. "Relena," saying her name softly, she could almost detect a hint of emotion, which one she was not sure. "We have some things to discuss."

"Let me OUT of here! I did nothing wrong." A boy with flaring violet eyes shouted. He was wearing raged, torn, dirty old clothing that quickly identified him as low on the social scale.

He was in a small room, on a boat; he summarized, that was dimly lighted. Only a few lanterns lighted the room out side. The whole room was made of wood except for the four iron bars that covered a five by five window on the door of his cell.

"QUIET! Stop making such a racket." The sailor who was keeping an eye on the captain's prisoner yelled. He was the typical sailor people imagined when they heard the word 'sailor', a middle height, burly, muscular man with brown eyes and hair. "You're giving me a headache. If you hadn't tried to steal any of the captain's merchandise, then you would not be here in the first place!"

"Well, I was hungry AND I have a hungry and ill mum waiting for me at home. If I don't go home to her, she'll die. She has NO one but ME to take care of her. What will she do when I don't return home tonight?"

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you thought of stealing from the captain." The sailor sighed, folded his big hairy arms and leaned back against the wooden chair. "Maybe you should have tried to get a job. That way, you wouldn't have to steal from people."

The young man's anger flared up. What did this man know of him? "Don't you think I tried to get a job?" he hissed. "But what were we supposed to do while I was looking for a job? Hmm? Eat dirt! When my father died he left us with no money what so ever and I had to care and provide for my mum ever since. No one seemed to want to hire me. The reason why, I don't know. But I guarantee you that I am an honest person and would never steal from any body unless it was absolutely necessary, and BELIEVE ME, it was necessary."

"Listen, kid, I'm sorry, but you really should just shut up and stay that way. I'm only here to keep an eye on you, not to hear your life story. If you behave well, the captain may be a little more lenient. The last time some poor boy tried to steel from him a few years back, the boy got whiplashes twenty times on that same day every year. The captain made him scrub the decks till the boy couldn't bend over any more, help prepare the meals for the crew, got little food himself, and one day when he got thrown over in a storm at sea, the captain let him drown."

"Thanks for the moral booster." He stated sarcastecly and slumped down in the farthest corner he could find in the small room, and silently cried for himself, his mother, and this damned situation he had gotten himself in. Little did he know he had a guardian angel that would soon save his life.

A young man was standing on the deck of a merchant ship while the sailors loaded the trading goods in the cargo hold. The wind was swimming through his platinum locks as his eyes, that were as deep as the ocean before him, wondered above the white puffy clouds. His pale skin was fare and his soft lips were curved up in a slight smile.

Someone placed a rough hand on the young man's shoulder, a gentle touch, but enough to bring him out of his revere.

"The sea favors you my son." As many a times before, that was the start of their conversation before leaving different harbors or ports. It sort of became a wishing for good weather and strong winds between them.

The man had dark brown, bushy hair. Below his pointy nose lay a thin brown mustache and below that lay a soft smile.

"Father, who was that boy I heard yelling bellow deck?" The older man sighed.

"A little bastard that tried to steal from me, but I caught him."

"Oh… what are you going to do to him?"

"Same as before, make him my cabin boy."

"Be at least a little nicer this time, won't you father?" His eyes pleaded.

"You are too soft and too kind. Shape up or you will die when you become captain of this merchant ship!" With those sharp words, he stomped away.

'Father, you can't change who I am. I think I'll go see what the new "cabin boy" is like.' With that, he walked below deck.

In the far away mountains of Japan, a small group of men met together. Most of them around 20 to 25 years of age, but one of them was 18. They wore dark clothing and didn't make a sound when they moved. An older one, about the age of 47, spoke up.

"We have a new mission. Here is what it is, sixteen years ago; our clan murdered a Chinese emperor…"

Well, hope you have liked it so far. Don't worry, more action will come in the next chapter. This chapter takes place 16 years later than the prologue, if you couldn't all ready figure that out. The next chapter I'll tell you a little bit about Wufei. But a certain somebody will remain more or less a mystery. Please review. I would LOVE ready your suggestions and criticism. Tell me what you want to read and I might incorporate it into the story. Thanks

TNT


	3. Chapter 2

Beat of the Drum and Melody of the Flute 

By TNT

**Chapter Two**

_Meetings_

_Love, fear, hate… Justice… So many emotions emanated from the dark void surrounding the worrier. The many emotions started to take shape. First was his wife, the black hair spitfire that she was, always trying to prove her strength and honor to her husband. Then… a cry of pain escaped her tiny lips. Large flames jumped up and licked at her body. She couldn't run with her feet bound like that. Run! Run!_

_Too late… the fire died down into a soft glow leaving only a chard corps, the stench of burning flesh filled the black velvety void. _

_Painfully, silently, the worrier approached the blackened corps of his wife, his own dark eyes reflecting the emotions swirling in the void. Love, fear, hate, despair, grief… Justice… He knelt down next to the corpse._

_Lunging at him, the corpse grabbed his neck and began to choke him. Lungs burning, demanding air, all he felt emanating from the void now was anger._

_Air… need air… choking, dying. NO!_

Waking up with a pain filled cry, cold sweat clinging to his toned body, the young Chinese man looked at his wife. She was quietly sleeping, and a small lock of hair had fallen in front of her delicate face. Her husband, gently, so as not to wake her, brushed the lock of black hair behind her ear.

Lying back down, he stared at his wife. Even though the marriage was arranged, he had learned to care for his wife, even though she was stubborn. After a while sleep claimed him once again, his last thought… '_Marian._'

The gray sky produced an uncountable number of the soft liquid teardrops, giving drink to parched crops and small patches of dry earth. On a day like this, there was very little one could do except stare off into a land far away, perhaps even worlds away, just to be anywhere but here.

'_Ouch,'_ did she have to pull so hard with that comb on the knots? Sitting patiently, waiting for her servant to finish combing out her hair, she thought of yesterday's conversation, if you could call it that, with her father and flute teacher.

In two weeks, the whole city would be celebrating the beginning of the blooming of the _sakura_ trees. It was one of the biggest festivals of the year! And everyone would be attending.

Her flute teacher had been very impressed by her natural talent for playing the delicate instrument and had mentioned so to her father. Her father in turn, trusting the flute teacher's word decided that his own daughter should play her flute in front of everybody who would be attending her father's personal celebration. Then that afternoon, play for the whole city performing in the town square.

When Princess Relena heard of the news her heart started to beat so fast she could feel it pounding right through her chest. What if she messed up? What if she gave people reason to question her family honor? No, she would not think that way. She would play flawlessly. After all, she was a shogun's daughter.

When the servant finished combing Princess Relena's hair, she rose from her sitting position. But before she walked out the door, Relena, still looking at her lap, stated, "please send in the samurai guarding my door."

Bowing, the middle- aged woman replied, "As you wish."

A few seconds later a tall man with piercing green eyes entered the room and walked slowly toward the princess. Relena finally looked up and looked at the samurai.

"Trowa, please, have a seat," she stated softly motioning to the cutioned mat in front of her. He nodded and sat before Relena. After he had settled the princess spoke. "Trowa, did you hear what happened?" she asked excitedly. Trowa was like a big brother that she could talk to whenever she got lonely or just wanted to talk, for both of these reasons, they conversed often.

Trowa nodded his head, and gave her one of his rare smile, which was hardly detectable. "Yes, I did. Congratulations. Do you know what songs you will be playing?"

"I do. But I want to keep them a secret. I want to surprise everyone with my song selections." He gave her a soft chuckle in reply.

Taking a deep breath, as if finally making up her mind, Relena spoke, almost as if she were in a trance. "Trowa, I've been having this ominous feeling for the past couple of days. Something is going to happen soon. I don't know what, but I know it can not be good." She stopped speaking and the room became deathly quiet as if a dark black blanket had been draped over sound. The only thing that was heard was the soft murmur of the clouds, pouring out their sorrows over the brown sodden earth.

Soft creaking sounded as the wooden boards spoke to each other while the merchant ship floated a crossed the dark murky sea. The sky was dark and gray monsters loomed above the ship. The wind had all died down and the waters were much too calm. A storm was coming… One of the worst ones this creaky ship or its crew had ever seen.

Blond locks bouncing up and down, the young man quickly strode down the steps the "dungeon" on the ship. Over the past three days, Quatre, the son of the captain of the merchant ship, _the Mathew_, had gotten to know this new "cabin boy" very well.

Their relationships started on a shaky foundation, however, as they got to know each other, the bond they formed was stronger than steal chains or a hundred manned army.

"Hey Quatre!" The young, chestnut haired man whispered excitedly. "Where have you been? Eating those hard biscuits and a bit of beer isn't that appetizing." Quatre smiled at his chatter-mouthed friend while he quietly slipped off the keys from the sleeping guard's belt. He unlocked and opened the door.

For the past few nights, the two boys had gotten into the habit of going above deck and stand at the bow end of the ship and look at the stars. Quatre had decided to save part of his dinner for his friend because his father, John Cabot, was merciless, and treated the happy- go lucky man the exact same way as his last "cabin boy." Duo knew that if Quatre's father caught him helping himself out, he would get in major trouble, so he was eternally grateful.

Quatre was pretty popular among the crew, so they didn't have to worry about someone snitching on them.

"So where are we headed?" Duo inquired of his friend while chewing on some salted fish.

Gazing into the sky, Quatre silently pleaded with the clouds to part so he could see the stars. He almost didn't hear Duo's question and instead of responding to it, he said something completely different. "Every sailors' nightmare," he murmured.

"What? What are you talking about? Have you been dipping into the wine barrels?" Duo was extremely confused by his friend's statement.

Quatre blew air out of his nose and gave his shipmate an exasperated look. " 'Every sailors' nightmare' means not to be able to see the stars, like tonight. Not being able to see the stars means not being able to navigate that well at night. Those clouds, are a bad omen."

"I see… But I'm still a little bit confused."

"Just a _little_ bit confused?"

"All right, all right, I'm still a lot confused. How do you navigate by the stars?"

"Well, navigation is working out the direction to take in order to plan a journey across the sea, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well aside from using compasses, _astrolabes_, maps, _cross staffs_, or any other navigational instruments we use the North Star or another name for it is Polaris, to tell direction. If I could see the stars right now, I would point it out to you and some other constellations like Ursa Major or Ursa Minor."

"What's a… a… um… conste… conste…"

"Constellation?"

"Yeah, that's the bloody word, constellation." Duo's eyes danced and any person could see that he was proud of himself for pronouncing that one little word. Quatre gave off a hearty laugh at the expression on Duo's face.

"A constellation is a group of stars that make up pictures and they usually have a legend or story that goes along with them."

Duo nodded at Quatre in acknowledgement. The tow young men looked at each other for a second then burst out in laughter. After a moment Quatre and Duo stopped laughing and the blond haired boy returned his attention to the ominous gray clouds, and a cold shiver ran down his spine.

In the reclusive country of Japan, the rains had stopped later that afternoon, but soon the black sky replaced the sometimes-sunny sky, and the moon and the stars took over the sun's domain.

Relena lay awake on her bed, unable to let sleep claim her, allowing her body, mind and soul rest. She finally couldn't stand lying in that bed one more second and rolled off of it. She sat up on her knees and reached for one of three items under her sleeping mat, a sketch of her late mother. She touched her golden hair and smiled. Often people told her she looked like an exact replica of her mother except for her eyes were her fathers. Her mother, Mahault, meaning strong battle maid, was the daughter of Dutch merchant who had fallen in love with Relena's father. And her father in turn loved her mother just as much, so they got married. Mahault's father was furious, but their was nothing he could do about it, so he gave her a chose, come back with him, or stay with her new found husband and never see any of her friends and family again. She chose to stay with Arekkusu, which is Relena's father's name. Mahault's father was surprised and miffed at her decision, but had no choice but to leave her. She never saw her father again.

Two years later Mahault gave birth to their first and only child who was given the name _Ririn_, but often was called Relena, but she didn't know why.

Relena stared at the sketch of her late mother and felt restless. She needed to get rid of some pent up energy, so she put the sketch away and reached for the other two items under her bed, a samurai sword and a black costume that covered all of her body except for her eyes. It would not be proper for a princess to run around outside in the middle of the night, but it would be perfectly fine for a mysterious rouge warrior, looking for a fight. So she put on the clothes and strapped the sword to her back and stelfuly jumped out the window to her room.

But unbeknownst to her, a pair of eyes had witnessed her transformation.

Well everyone… here is chapter two. Hoped you enjoyed it. I know the story is confusing now, but it will become clearer later. I promise. Here are a few meanings to a couple of things you might be wondering about:

_Sakura_: Cherry

2.) _Ririn_: The first name of **Ririn** gives you a dynamic and highly strung nature. You have a humanitarian and principled side to your character and will go out of your way to help someone if you feel there is injustice or unfairness. You often become involved in situations without any thought of the consequences. You are basically seeking truth in life and have a very analytical and questioning mind. Being perceptive and intuitive, you often respond to your hunches, which can lead you into bitter experiences. You love change, travel, and new opportunities and dislike monotonous detail. Though you show enthusiasm over a newfound interest, you seldom finish the things you start. If you are repressed or restricted in any way, you become frustrated, moody, and depressed. You often speak directly and can be cutting and sarcastic. You experience many disappointments with people, for you trust others and take them at their word, only to be let down. In time, you could become cynical and extremely critical towards people. Your driving, seeking nature and intensity of feelings could cause you to experience nervous breakdowns, nervous problems, fits, goitre, or a weak and sensitive solar plexus. An impulsiveness could cause you to be accident-prone.

http/ – the address I got the name and description from.

Well, feed back would be appreciated. See you soon!

TNT


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

_Tragedy_

Wind rushed through his golden locks as the storm raged through the sky and water. Little pellets of raindrops beat down ruthlessly on the merchant ship as if miniature sized hammers were being thrown down from heaven.

The raging storm had hit them with unexpected terror. Although everyone on board the ship knew of the coming storm, they never could have suspected how fiercely it would bare its long sharp fangs. Sailors threw things over board as others rushed around searching for more things to plunge into the dark deep depths of the ocean to lighten up the ship.

"Father! Father!" Quatre yelled through the confusion of the scurrying frantic sailors and the raging beast around them. "Where are you?"

"Quatre, my son, get below deck!" His father ran toward him as best he could on the rocking boat. When he reached him he pushed him toward the hatch that lead down below the deck of the ship. "It is not safe up here."

"But Father!"

"Don't argue! Just go!" Quatre nodded and turned to go, but just before he took his first step toward the door, a huge wave surged toward the ship.

"Quatre!" John lunged for his son, knocking them both onto the deck. "Here," He said. "Hold on to the piece of rope for dear life. There's no time to ge…" John Cabot's words were cut off by the monstrous wave covering the ship. Quatre felt the weight of his father fall away from his own body.

Quatre held his breath, but soon his lungs began to burn, screaming for air. Finally, the water receded from the ship, and the blond haired boy took a long, deep gasp of air. His senses were disoriented and his vision blurry. There was a lot of bustling and shouts, but then all commotion ceased as one voice shouted those words no sailor longed to hear.

"Man over board!" the man on the crow's nest shouted. "Man over board!"

Quatre suddenly felt two strong hands pull him off the planks of the deck and dazily drag him under the deck. The boat was still being tossed around fiercely by the raging storm out side.

The sailor sat Quatre down next to some beer barrels and turned to leave. "Wait," called Quatre, his senses just now slightly return to him. "Who, who got thrown over board.

The brown haired burly man got a pained expression on his face. Slowly he replied, "Don't you know?" When Quatre shook his soaked head the sailor continued, "Your father, Captain Cabot." The young blond soaking and shivering man suddenly felt very faint, and felt the bile rise in his throat.

Night is dark and ominous without kindled fires and the moon and stars above. Fortunately these lights linger through out all of Japan. They create shadows that allow certain people to blend into their darkness.

The ground was damp from the downpour earlier that day. The air was wet and smelled musty. There were only sounds of cricket's violins, the laughter of men merrily drinking in taverns, and of men in the shadows making equally dark deals.

Then there are the things or people who are not usually seen and are not usually heard. One in particular stealth fully leaped from one dark spot to another, her aqua blue eyes scathing the land and her ears listening to every word spoken.

Suddenly there was a soft rustle behind the darkly dressed character. She twirled around simultaneously drawing her samurai style sword. There, before her, stood a figure dressed similarly like herself. A person could not see the figure's mouth smile but a person could blatantly see the sparkling dance of amusement in the figure's eyes.

"Melodious Flute, you should be more careful." The figure stated. "You are not the only one who knows how to sneak through the night." Relena smirked slightly.

"Humph," she grunted "Are you saying I am losing my touch?" The other figure rolled her eyes and motioned with her hand for Relena to fallow her.

The pair slipped through narrow ally ways and shadowed corners until they finally reached a small inconspicuous hut just outside of the city. Before they entered the hut they made sure they weren't followed. When they were satisfied they slipped into the small building and lit two homemade candles. Then they dripped some wax onto a table and stuck the candles into the wax. When the task was completed they took off their facial masks.

Sitting before Relena was a petite black haired girl who had a playful yet dangerous air about her. Relena had met her on one of her nightly outings two years before. She was careless then and didn't notice the stranger following her. Once she was behind a building the stranger attacked her and pushed her to the ground effortlessly.

That night Relena found out that her stalker was from a ninja clan who lived up in the mountains. She had come down looking for some fun and found Relena. When she whipped the mask off of Relena's face the stranger was surprised to find the supposed ninja was the daughter of a shogun.

The months to follow were interesting ones for the blond haired princess. She had told the ninja that she had found a scroll buried in the tea garden near her bedroom, which contained instructions for many different deadly martial art techniques. Relena self taught herself all of the techniques the scroll described, however, her training was still so full of gaps.

For unknown reasons to the princess this female ninja offered to train her properly and help her fill in the holes that interfered with the perfection of her training, like the lurking in the shadows at night fall. So for the past two years Relena and this girl, who calls herself Rhythmic Drum (or Drummer for short) have trained together strengthening both their skills and their friendship.

"Melodious Flute," (she calls Relena that so if any one over hears their conversations they won't know who they really are) " Let's begin tonight with your sword training. You are still a little weak in that area."

The two went out side and began to spare. They trained on various things that night until an hour before daybreak when they both had to return home.

Relena climbed the wall and crawled through the window to her bedroom, quickly changing into her sleeping cloths, hid her ninja out fit, fell on to her bed, and fell into a deep fitful sleep.

_Dear Wufei Chang,_

_You have been summoned to the Emperor's court. You shall arrive tomorrow at high noon. Tell no one of this summons. This is of up most urgency._

_Officially,_

_Emperor of China_

The seal was legitimate. If Wufie were to get to the palace by high noon tomorrow he would have to leave right away. Sighing, he got dressed into travel clothes and put a nice sum of money in a pouch around his waist. He then saddled a sturdy hoarse for the trip and road of toward the palace.

Hello everyone. Sorry this took me so long and that it so short and boring. I know I promised action, but this was a necessary chapter to get out before I could continue. Please review and write to me with your comments, criticism and or questions. Thank you.

TNT


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